Quick quetion about water storage tanks...

[danielll]

I moved recently and broke down my system, and I haven't put it back up since. Been itching to get back into it.

I was wondering if I could buy one of those 300 gallon water storage tanks used for pressure washing (lets just assume its perfectly clean for this discussion.)

What I wanted was to set up my 90 gallon in wall in my living room, and plumb it sealed pipe into this 300 gallon storage tank in the basement below it. Then it would overflow into the regular sump in the basement. the sump would then pump it back up to the reef tank above as normal.

Some questions:

1. Would evaporation of a normal sump tank in the basement be an issue?
2. Would pumping the water up ~15 feet be an issue?
3. 90 gallon + 300 gallon + 30 gallon sump is 420 gallons, how often would i need to water change? I assume i could control evaporation with limited surface area of the water.

My general goal here is to be able to overstock my 90 gallon with smaller fish and i assume 420 gallons of water would afford a great deal of clowns.


any thoughts would be quite helpful.

 

[silver surfer]

I have a 120 reef tank. 75 gallon sump and 100 gallon (food grade vat). I use the water volume for more fish and overall stability. One thing to keep in mind. You will need equipment to handle the total water volume of your system. So, your skimmer will need to be rate 500gallons +. I like 1000gallon + if you have the room.

 

[frantz]

the 15 feet is your head, and most pumps give a chart showing what their pump rates are a various head measurements. 15 might be more than the chart shows, but you should be able to contact the manufacturers and get the measurements. It won't hurt anything, just decreased the flow. I would be less concerned with evap if your goal is overstocking. High O2 levels will be important so everyone can breath and the more sealed up you make the tank the less O2 will be getting in your water. Evap replacement is pennies.

 

[falos]

I would run from dt to sump then to 300 gal tank maybe with a external skimmer you can drill the storage tank and use over sized washers to keep it from flexing
Reason why I say sump first is to filter the water before it goes in the storage tank they are a pain to clean
If its the tanks I'm thanking of keep the metal frame they come in just put a few coats of paint on it to keep it from rusting if not they flex with age

 

[jef4y]

It shouldn't be a problem, I just question the realist reasoning/sanity of it all.

Overstocking a 90, well, do that and just get a bigger skimmer & keep tabs on the water. But to make a 500 gallon system and stock it to a couple hundred gallons, with all the fish in only 90 gallons of it seems pretty crazy IMHO. You'll have a LOT of fish in a VERY crowded environment. Granted, you may have decent water quality but the overall quality of life for the livestock is going to suck big time.

 

[realfish]

Personally, I like the idea of putting more water in a system-the more water, the more stable your system will be.

The only thing I think you would need to upsize would be your skimmer and obviously your pumps. Although the bio-load is still only 90 gallons worth, you still have 400+ gallons of water to process. That being said, I don't think you would need a skimmer designed for 400 gallons since you would have a relatively light bio-load.

As for other equipment, theoretically you would still be using the same amount of calcium, alkalinity, etc. Maybe upsize your carbon reactor if you use carbon.

My system is somewhat similar, but I only have a 30 gallon holding tank and a 60 gallon soon to be frag tank. I agree with the others, the overflow from your tank should go into the sump first so any debris collects there and not in your holding tank.

My tank overflows into my sump and then with a manifold I pump water to the display tank, the frag tank and the holding tank. All three of those tanks overflow back to the sump. This is where I see a problem in your system.

I may be misunderstanding you, but it doesn't sound like there is an overflow in the 300 gallon holding tank. I don't know how you would plumb that into your system without an overflow. I think a standpipe in the center of it would work as an overflow going back to your sump. The holding tank would need to be above your sump.

Also, there are plenty of pumps at reasonable prices to get your water up 15' to the display tank floor. The trickier part is getting the water down to the basement without too much noise. Although there are proven ways of doing that, so don't fret.

 

[danielll]

RealFish;760228 wrote:

I may be misunderstanding you, but it doesn't sound like there is an overflow in the 300 gallon holding tank. I don't know how you would plumb that into your system without an overflow. I think a standpipe in the center of it would work as an overflow going back to your sump. The holding tank would need to be above your sump.

Also, there are plenty of pumps at reasonable prices to get your water up 15' to the display tank floor. The trickier part is getting the water down to the basement without too much noise. Although there are proven ways of doing that, so don't fret.

My general thought was to have the display tank up top, built into wall, then overflow it down to the sump tank, then overflow the sump tank into the holding tank, and then put a hole in the side of the holding tank, to pump the water back up to the main tank.

also, for air, i was thinking about coming up with a piping system that pours into a funnel, so air would be mixed as it flowed down to the sump?

Thanks for the input guys, and my idea of overstock is like 15-20 clowns or something, nothing insane.